


Good Side of Bad Karma

by rishfish



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Break ups and get togethers will happen, Drama galore, Everyone is aged between sophmore and senior year, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Minor Injuries, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pidge is a girl in this fic, Possible Unrequited Love, Slow Burn, allura is the cheer captain, almost everyone has their own plot lines, almost everyone is a major character, coran is the mascot, coran just wants to grow out his stache but the dress code wont allow it, everyone is human, hunk and shay joined the jv cheer squad together, keiths parents are still dead sorry keith, major pairings to be added, most of this is unbeta'd, multishipping is definitely a thing, pairings will be added, pidge hunk and matt are huge nerds, pidge is a sneaky little shit and winds up as the varsity flyer, prom will be a thing, romance heavy plot, shiro keith and lance are jocks on the football team, shiro tries to avoid drama and cannot, sports injuries will be a thing, there wont be any written smut but there will be plenty of fluff and angst to tide you over, these kids are disaster prone, zarkon is the resident delinquent and sendak is his delinquent lackey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-09 17:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7811695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rishfish/pseuds/rishfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lion Head High is the home of the Lions, the most elite high school sports teams in the region. It's dazzling, appealing, and majestic on the outside, but inside the Lions' den is another story entirely. Drama and disaster are waiting around every corner and no one is spared. </p><p>Drama is a given in any high school with a prominent social ladder, but not even football jocks such as Shiro, Keith, and Lance, or a cheer queen such as Allura, are immune to the discord that runs rampant through the school on a daily basis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everything is Well and Good for Now

High school is the entire world when you’re in it. Anything past senior year is fictional so the strifes and struggles of one’s high school career are real. Not being invited to  _ her _ party? End of the world. Playing mock-a-jock? Social suicide. Sports Injury? It’s the apocalypse. And Lion Head High is no exception. But enough of the introductory high school clichés. Disaster’s rearing it’s unpopular head.

“You’re telling me we don’t have a flyer? The game is tomorrow evening and we have no time to rework our routine-” The captain of the cheer team shut her locker, and walked against the flow of the crowd toward the gym with her bag slung over her shoulder. She swapped the side her phone was on and pressed it to her other ear. “No, no. Don’t do that. She’s too off balance and that’s asking for disaster. Listen- I’m heading to practice now. I’ll just find one from junior varsity to take your place until you heal. Take care now and don’t be up and about on that foot longer than you need.” 

Allura, the senior class queen of everything, beelined through the gym, straight to the locker room to change and put her things away. Girls wove in and out of the aisles, passing Allura by as she wrestled a hair band from her wrist. She bit the band between her teeth and dropped her bag haphazardly on one of the wooden benches in between the team lockers. She input her locker code and swung it open, fixing her hair and eventually tying it back, checking over her appearance in the mirror. Most of the girls from the P.E. class that had just ended had cleared out and she was alone. She pulled off her shirt and unzipped her bag to retrieve her practice clothes.

“Oh- uh, sorry!” Allura glanced up when she found she wasn’t alone. At first her eyes widened a little bit, briefly mistaking the student before her as a lost freshman boy or something. Upon the awkward eye contact that followed the other’s apology she even felt a feeling of brief recognition as the thought crossed her mind that the other was the whiz kid from her trig class. This was no boy at all, in fact, and despite not knowing her name for certain, she’d seen her before in the hallways between classes, as well. 

“Oh, it’s fine,” she said dismissively, slowly turning back to her locker to stow her bag. The cheer captain wiggled on her practice shorts under her skirt and slipped it off over the shorts and then glanced over her shoulder at the other who was rummaging through a locker. The other girl was short, with light brown hair cut to about her chin. Overall she looked very… lightweight. And lo and behold was that a JV cheer uniform she spotted in her locker?

“I didn’t know you participated in cheerleading,” she said, trying to make conversation. “I don’t pay much attention to JV practice so I admit I hadn’t seen you there before. But you’re fairly petite,” she observed before slipping her socks and tennis shoes on. The rustling in the locker behind her stopped for a second. There wasn’t any response and Allura bit her lip. Maybe the comment was too bold. Or maybe the captain of the varsity cheer squad was just intimidating.“So are you the team’s flyer?” She asked. 

The question was answered by more silence to which Allura knotted her shoelaces hard and turned to look at the other girl, who wore large circle lenses. They met eyes when the other realized she was being stared at. 

“Well?”  
“Yes-” It was quick and relatively loud. 

“Well then flyer, what’s your name?” Allura proceeded to ask, hoping her proposition would be enough to entice the other into maybe temporarily joining varsity. Most JV members would leap at the chance. 

“Huh-” There was brief hesitation. “Oh, it’s Pidge. Just Pidge,” she said. 

“Pidge,” Allura mused, lacing her other shoe and standing up. “That’s so unique. I don’t even think I’ve heard it in passing.” 

“I mean Allura is a pretty odd name too,” Pidge replied simply, putting something up in her bag. 

“Ah, so you already know me. I guess that’s not surprising since I am the varsity cheer captain. Did you know I orchestrate most of varsity’s routines all by myself?” She asked. Pidge nodded and shut the locker. 

“It’s pretty impressive,” she acknowledged.   
“I’m glad you think so. Well, then, I must ask. You’d enjoy performing in one, correct? One of my special routines-” Allura wasn’t sure whether to take offense at the simple shrug the other gave or hold suspicion that she didn’t seem all that excited. “Our flyer recently injured her foot which means she can’t perform this friday at the game.” Pidge started fidgeting with her zipper. 

“Oh. Sorry about that,” she replied, before starting to leave. 

“Hey! Wait, stop. I’m trying to make a suggestion.” Pidge rose her eyebrows. “I was 

hoping that maybe you’d be available to fill in. We have practice this afternoon and the routine shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Pidge looked as if she was contemplating the offer. “Alright. I’ll run back to my locker first though. I have something to take care of.” Allura lit up like a christmas light. It was so easy!

“Oh thank you, pigeon! You’re a life saver!” She practically beamed as she bounced out the door.

“It’s Pidge!” She heard the call behind her but she hurried off to practice. Whatever, it was still a score on her part. She’d solved her flyer problem in record time and she couldn’t help but smile at herself.

  
  


“Wait, wait, wait. You did  _ what _ ?” Hunk, a junior class participant in the school’s drama club and officer of the robotics club, stared surprised at his short friend, Pidge, when she pressed a JV uniform against Hunk’s chest. She stepped up to her locker and spun the combination lock. 

“I just told her I’d help out,” Pidge shrugged. “I think I could totally pull it off, especially since even if I was on the JV team the routine would be new to me.”   
“Ok, but hear me out, please. It’s a bad idea. You should tell her you aren’t a cheerleader. You could get hurt. Like really hurt,” he babbled, clutching the uniform to his chest. “I mean just because we’re junior varsity doesn’t mean we don’t train just as hard.”

“You just used a double negative,” Pidge said, opening her own locker to grab her book bag. 

“Seriously, you don’t have any physical training. And if you’re playing with a practiced elite team, it-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there, buddy. If they’re so elite, I doubt they’ll drop me or anything.” 

“It happens,” Hunk sighed. “It happened. To the varsity flyer.” He was trying hard to be assertive. “But you’re still going to try anyway.” Pidge nodded and shoved a textbook under her arm. 

“For someone who knows me so well, you have no faith in me.” The chestnut haired sophomore shoved a spiral notebook in her bag before she slid the textbook in the back. Before zipping it up she extracted her change of clothes- something casual and comfortable she kept at school for when the techie meetings for the next play began. “Try not to worry so much.” She patted his arm and turned to go away. With a sling of her backpack she gave a wave.

“Be safe,” he called. He looked down at the uniform in his arms. “Oh, Shay said thanks for getting her uniform!” 

“Yeah, yeah. No problem. It’s better she focus on her make-up test than worry over something like that,” Pidge spoke as she walked off to change in the bathroom. Hunk went his own way. 

Hunk’s girlfriend, Shay, was staying after school to make up a test. Hunk didn’t have to stay after school since JV wasn’t meeting, but he promised he’d wait for her anyway. Pidge had run to grab her uniform from the ladies locker room, since Hunk himself could not. 

He stiffened slightly as he turned the corner. Approaching him now were the only the school’s hottest, most sought after football players. Shiro, a senior, and captain of the football team, was basically everyone’s dream boyfriend. He claimed to remain single in order to avoid all the drama of a high school relationship. Overall, Shiro seemed like a pretty good dude.

His right hand man, and co-captain was the low-key sultry, high-key sulky junior player,  Keith Kogane. Hunk recalled hearing a rumor once that he was gay, but no one bothered him about it. He lost both of his parents his freshman year so a lot of people let Keith be. And those who lacked empathy, who would have teased him anyway, always seemed to be too intimidated by Shiro to do anything.

Last, but not least, was Lance McClain. Lance was by far the most obnoxious of the trio and a huge flirt. He flirted with whoever seemed interested, although it never advanced much past that. Despite his advances being focused mainly on the ladies, he once proclaimed loud and proud that he was probably bi. He was totally forthcoming with it, but not everyone really believed him when he said so. 

Now, Hunk really didn’t have much to fear from these three. They weren’t awful like some jocks you’d see on TV. And Lance’s teasing was rarely harmful. Hunk had felt plain weird around them since he broke the bro code at the start of the year. Sure, he’d been given his shot on the varsity football team. He even made it through tryouts, but it wasn’t his thing. Plus, at the time, he had just started dating Shay. She wanted to do cheerleading tryouts, but felt too shy to go alone. So Hunk went with her and joined JV cheerleading instead. Major bro code violation, but he felt “bros before hoes” didn’t apply here. 

“Heeeey, it’s Hunk, my guy,” Lance waved, giving him a light punch in the shoulder. 

“Oh. Hey, Lance,” he replied, and kept walking, stopping to wait by Shay’s room. Shiro and Keith nodded but those two kept walking as Lance turned and walked backwards to face Hunk.

“What are you waiting for, dude? You should come swing by the field!” Lance said, slowing his backwards advance.

“Uh, can’t! Sorry. Waiting on Shay,” Hunk replied. Lance did seem unamused but he shrugged and turned back around.

“Alright, I’ll see ya then. You do you, bud.” As Lance turned the corner in pursuit of his squad, Hunk turned back to face the door, peeking inside and spotting Shay. He smiled slightly and took a seat outside the room.

 

“Ok, but he’s just waiting. Look, all I’m saying is that, he’s gonna sit there with nothing to do when he could be hanging with us until she finishes whatever she’s doing,” Lance said with a huff. “Then maybe he’d see all the fun he’s missing out on.” He took short quick breaths and planted his hands on his knees. Shiro tossed him his water bottle. 

“Fun? And since when exactly have you ever thought our training drills were fun?” Keith asked. Lance started to answer but then shut his mouth. He had a point. “Let it go, Lance. You’re just mad Hunk has more game than you do,” he muttered. Lance snorted.

“Oh. Like you have any more game than I do. At least I try and flirt, pretty boy.” Keith didn’t comment. He just chugged down the rest of what he had in his own bottle of water. 

“Alright you two. We worked hard today and you’re both already out of breath. Don’t fight now. Use that leftover energy for getting your bags and walking back to the locker rooms.” Keith and Lance listened and said their ‘later’s to the other team members. 

They trekked back to the locker rooms, passing through the gyms where the varsity cheer team was wrapping up its practice. Shiro glanced over briefly at the formation as a shout echoed through the gym. He had to do a double take, though. It surely wasn’t Matt dropping from the top of the formation. His little sister, maybe? She wasn’t athletic, though. Lance looked like he was going to stop to flirt with Allura again but he shooed both of his friends off and went to standby the practice. 

Allura seemed stressed and broke off from the group after Pidge was caught and safely back with her feet firmly planted on the ground. She gave the order to give the routine a go one more time. He adjusted his gym back over his shoulder and crossed his arms. The cheer captain approached and shooed him aside for her water bottle. He turned and faced the bench so he could speak to her.

“So, uh, Pidge, huh?” He asked. Allura stopped and looked up at him.

“Shiro, don’t be rude. She’s not as practiced, but getting the JV flyer to sub in was the best I could do.”

“Try not practiced at all,” he said. “Yeah, Matt’s little sister? She’s just a techie. And in his club, but not an athlete,” he kept his voice low. 

“And how would you know? She was in the girls locker room. She had a JV uniform. Pidge even told me herself.” Shiro stared at the cheer captain. He broke his stare to glance over his shoulder at the team, correcting Pidge’s stance. “Why would she lie?” Allura sat and gestured for Shiro to also to sit, which he did.

“You got me there,” he sighed, like he’d almost been defeated. “But I know Matt and-” 

“They aren’t the same person, you know. Pidge could be entirely more athletic.”

“I was actually going to say Matt and I know Pidge enough, to know it’s weird that she’s suddenly on JV. I’ve been to their house and her efforts are primarily focused on her studies and her tech. So maybe you should ask her again. Talk to her.” 

“So you’ve been over to Matt’s house a few times! I’m sure he’d appreciate you looking after his little sister, but Pidge is highly independent, albeit a little clumsy. She hasn’t done terribly, so I don’t feel any need to suspect that she’s being dishonest.”

“Suit yourself. But I know you just as well as I know Matt, and if you keep telling yourself this because you think she’s charming and a cute team addition… Well, you’re just going to feel bad later if she gets hurt because of her lack of training. Also Pidge is just her nickname,” he said. He probably added that last part in to show that he did know more about Pidge. Allura looked down at the ground. He was right. But Allura didn’t really have a choice. 

“So, I’ll give her some extra help and support. If I need to I’ll cut the last part of the routine,” she said. “But she hasn’t fallen yet. I think she can handle it. Lie or not. Now go shower. You’re all sweaty and it’s sort of gross,” she huffed, propelling herself up and calling the team to meet her. 

Shiro felt as if he’d talked some sense into her. When things got tight, Allura could be stubborn. He figured she was smarter than to forgo precautions, though, now that she knew Pidge could potentially be lying. With that final thought Shiro got up and made his way back to the boys’ locker rooms. 


	2. Snap Crackle Pop

“Ah- Pigeon! Wait, please,” Allura called as she approached her newly acquired temporary member. The previous day after Shiro had stepped out, Allura barely had time to speak with the underclassmen as she had run out to join up with friends or something like that. But, the cheer captain was resourceful and checked the online JV roster. Sure enough, Shiro had been right. Pidge was nowhere to be found on the list. And now they’d just finished their pre-game practice and many of the girls were on their way to get ready.

Pidge stopped. “It’s just Pidge,” she corrected. Allura nodded and then handed her a varsity uniform. The team always kept one spare skirt and top; however, Pidge had informed Allura that she was uncomfortable wearing something that showed so much skin. So, Allura pulled some strings to procure another spare uniform they had that was reserved for those who didn’t actually perform but carried out other duties, such as managing a team. The varsity team did not have any male cheerleaders but she supposed this was also what their male uniform would look like since it was fairly close to the JV’s male uniform.

“Right, so this should fit decently well, just make sure you tighten the waistband enough, knot it, and you shouldn’t have any slippage,” she assured as Pidge took the uniform into her arms. She smiled and nodded, giving a very soft thank you before she turned away. She was stopped, though, when Allura put her hand on her shoulder.

“I-” she hesitated as she thought on how say it. “I wanted to say I know about you,” she said. “I received, well we can call it an anonymous tip, and I did some research.” Pidge met eyes with Allura but didn’t say anything. “Why did you lie about being a flyer?” She asked. Pidge was about to say something in response but just shrugged. “Are you sure you really want to do this?” Allura asked.

“I do want to do this and I don’t know why, so I can’t tell you that. Impulses, maybe?” She shrugged. “Anyway I think it should be fine, really. We practiced and I didn’t fall then.” Allura took a minute to respond, eyes trained on Pidge’s. She didn’t seem the least bit worried so the captain gave a solid nod.

“Alright. I’ll believe that. I promise I won’t let you crash even if you do fall,” she affirmed. Even despite Pidge’s lack of nerves, Allura still felt nervous. She knew that if Pidge fell, going to catch her could result in her own injury. But if she was able there was no way she’d let the new girl get injured, especially since she’d failed to realize the situation sooner. 

“Thanks,” Pidge nodded, breaking the prolonged eye contact and looking away.

“Go get dressed. Ask me if you need any help,” she said as Pidge walked back to the locker room.

  
  
  


“ALRIIIGHT!” Lance’s call was followed by a loud slapping noise, earning a yell of surprise from Shiro and an elbow in Lance’s gut from Keith. 

“You’re not supposed to go around slapping asses until after the game,” Keith nearly growled. Shiro didn’t seem to have anything to say. For some reason he’d been late to the locker room and was only just now getting ready.

“Yeesh, Keith. You’re always so fussy before games,” he muttered, clutching his stomach. “Like, c’mon, dude. Lighten up a little bit. It can’t possibly help your game any, being all rigid like that.”

“Just let Keith be,” Shiro sighed and changed the subject quickly, “Did you see Coran’s new mascot improvement?” 

“The mustache on the Lion’s nose?” Lance asked.

“What? No, no- I’m talking about the lights. He and Matt totally tricked out the costume with them,” Shiro replied, securing his gear. 

“Lights? Isn’t that a fire hazard?” Keith asked, stepping in.

“I’d be willing to bet that Matt made it so it would be safe for use. Otherwise I’m not even sure the school would have allowed them to use it for the game tonight.”

“Lights will totally look cool or whatever when nightfall comes though,” Lance butted back in. He straightened his jersey in a their locker room’s foggy mirror and glanced back at the others at the sound of a whistle. “Guess it’s almost our time. Shiro, you gonna call the team meeting?” Lance watched him with this silly hopeful grin.

Shiro was still dressing so he rose his eyebrows and shrugged. And despite being co-captain, Keith wasn’t one for pep talks so he figured it would be ok to let Lance have just one pep talk. It was his specialty riling people up. “Have at it, Lance.” 

“Yes! Score!” He fist pumped and went to call the team to order. “Allllright, team, gather around. This is our third home game and I am so pumped for it. Our team is currently undefeated and we are totally gonna kill this game. I trust everyone remembers what strategies we planned on? Good. Ok, alright. Just remember last year this team’s guys were big. Not very fast though. Not fast enough to beat our team. They were very precise but sometimes it was enough that they just weren’t fast enough. So stay quick on your feet and this will be easy. SO! Hands in, lion roar on three!” Lance put his hand down. His other teammates followed suit and- “One… Two… Three-!” The team consecutively roared, which sounded pretty funny but was amusing nonetheless. “Let’s go guys! Let’s break a leg!” Lance cheered, heading out first, straight to the coach to line up.

  
  
  


“Hey! Matt!” The older Holt sibling looked up to see Hunk and his girlfriend, Shay approaching. Both were in uniform so they were either coming off of practice or just had a JV game of their own to attend. The senior smiled and waved gingerly at the pair who took a seat beside him.

“So you two are doing well, I see,” he said, always wearing his smile. It was good to see his and his sister’s friends again all cute and matching. 

“So Pidge told you about tonight?” Shay asked. She was holding Hunk’s hand as they settled down in their bleacher seats.

“Hm? Oh yeah. She told me Allura recruited her for the team. She also said that Hunk, you were pretty worried,” he said with a short laugh. Matt almost always came to every game, of course. This was the first one Pidge would be performing at, but normally he was there just to support Shiro, especially since most of the audience at games was more or less made up of underclassmen.

“Oh! I did- am- was. Cheerleading is hard stuff. She can do it though. She’s been to at least two practices and didn’t fall so-” Hunk shrugged and slurped on a drink he had and then handed it to Shay. 

“I think so too. I’m not worried. She seems to be following the basic cheers fairly well. Although she’s not nearly as peppy as those others down there, but it’s Pidge and this is her first time.” He’d been watching the cheerleaders rile up the audiences for maybe only five minutes or so since he’d just arrived from a previous engagement himself. 

“Hunk, look. Coran’s wearing the suit modifications,” Shay said in a soft spoken voice. “It does look dazzling.” 

“Yeah, it does,” Hunk replied. “Matt, you guys did an amazing job,” he said, dark eyes following the lit up lion mascot costume across the stretch of sidewalk before the bleachers. He spun around, waved and cheered, like a mascot should. 

“The whole team will be out soon-” And almost as if on perfect cue, the band flared up, to give attention to the thin paper banner a few kids in detention were in charge of decorating. An intro played and whoever was in charge of the audio this time played the file of a lion roaring over the speakers.

  
  
  


Pidge stopped in her cheer, holding a pom pom in midair when the band played the intro. Of course, they were trying to sound majestic, but it was a high school band that got very little budget and had few members thanks to the school’s massive athletics focus. Lion Head’s signature roar sounded as the team came bursting through the banner. 

Allura hip bumped Pidge into turning and facing the audience they were still cheering for. The cheer captain had mentioned as they were cheering that if Pidge needed a break, she didn’t have to spend the entire time cheering before their half time routine. She’d try though. She turned to their side and continued to cheer. 

After one particular twirl she spotted her brother in the crowd. He’d waved at her earlier when she had come near his section but he seemed currently preoccupied. Hunk and Shay looked like they were talking but he was watching the players emerge intently.

It didn’t take much longer before Allura called the team back to make them hydrate and what not. Pidge hated to admit it but all this mindless cheering was a bit tiring. It might’ve been the humidity in the air, or the constant upkeep of positivity and extreme joy she was supposed to convey- maybe a combination of that and jumping around. She was sure this probably more taxing than the actual routine would be and probably the main reason they trained so hard in the first place. Stamina was actually a thing. 

She didn’t want to tire herself too much before halftime so about a quarter of the way through she took a seat. Some other girls did as well. She took this time to really observe the game. The score was fairly even. She didn’t know much about football but what she gathered was that her team had speed but the other team was big and they were  _ brutal _ . This of course raised the stakes of being caught and tackled.

The Lance guy was easily one of the fastest ones out there. He was a stick compared to a lot of the other guys, but his lanky height gave him a speedy advantage. He easily outran the others and his performance was definitely note worthy.

The guy Pidge presumed was Keith seemed to be more of a sneaky player. He was fast too, but seemed to focus more on instinct than anything else. There wasn’t any pattern to his movements and aside from a few of his team members no one seemed to predict what he’d do.

The last player that really caught Pidge’s eye, was her own brother’s best friend, Shiro. It was really obvious he took his leadership position seriously. It looked like he was able to anticipate each player’s moves, even Keith’s. The team as a whole heavily relied on him for a lot and that much was obvious.

So maybe Pidge didn’t quite understand the game and all it’s rules and regulations but she found it entertaining enough. She got so lost in her thoughts she didn’t realize Allura was calling her until each team broke for halftime. 

She got up and headed to the others to get into formation, ensuring the team leader that she was ready. The audience cheered but died down as the music started again. Pidge followed just like she practiced. She didn’t say any part of the team’s cheer since Allura wanted her to focus on the physical stuff. 

When it came time for her to step up and the team lift her, she went up effortlessly. For a brief moment she wavered and the corner of her eye caught Allura flinch, but she steadied and threw up her arms, twisting her pompoms in the air. 

When she felt the team’s support dip down she readied herself to be caught and so she was. She felt a sigh of relief pass through the team when she was safely returned to the ground. And the cheer continued. After they finished their routine she was basically swarmed by the other girls.

“Pidgeon! That’s was great! I’m so proud of you,” Allura mused, giving her a big hug and lifting her up. “Come on and get some water and sit down. That was a great performance,” she said, pulling her by the wrist to get some for her underclassmen. The group dispersed and went to hydrate again and Allura was absolutely beaming. Somewhere in the crowd Matt and Hunk were going particularly wild even after the applause died down. 

Pidge felt all warm about it herself and a bit of pride. She gulped down some water and tossed the bottle. From her pile of things she brought onto the field she got a snack and nibbled while she regained energy. After Allura returned from her rounds to the others on the team, she settled by Pidge.

“I know this is still relatively in the hype of the moment, but I’d like to ask now. Maybe 

You’d like to join us on our team permanently? I could definitely pull a few strings to get you added to the roster-”

Pidge was caught off guard as Allura trailed off. She blinked and adjusted her rubbed the back of her head looking blankly. 

“No?” Allura asked, fearing she’d come on too quickly and overwhelmed the smaller.

“Uh, no- er. Not no but I have to think about it since I already have extra after school stuff,” she said.

“Alright no pressure. Maybe even if it’s too much maybe you’d even consider just subbing in once in awhile?” She asked. Pidge just nodded slowly and kept eating.

“Right! Well the game’s starting back I better get back to work!” Pidge wasn’t entirely sure why Allura wanted to cheer the whole game when the rest of the team was on and off. Maybe it was to keep people entertained while nothing really went on on the field. As Allura walked off Hunk had made his way with Matt and Shay down to the fence. He gave Pidge a good pat on the back, startling her.

“Hey!” She said. 

“You did fantastic!” Matt beamed proudly.

“It wasn’t that great. Everyone’s just relieved I didn’t fall,” Pidge pointed out. 

“But you went in with very little training, and that is very impressive,” Shay added. 

“Yeah, you wobbled a little bit, but you stayed up like a pro,” Hunk admitted.   
“See, I told you to have more faith in me. Geez, Hunk.” There was a brief moment of just background noise before the lot of them chuckled over the whole thing. “Now go back up there and watch the rest of the game. Wouldn’t wanna distract Matt from watching his best dude out there,” she commented. This earned an eyeroll from her brother but he took the dismissal, eyes going out to watch the players on the field.

  
  
  


Second half of the game took off well enough. Shiro could tell a few of his team members were already getting worn down. They had to just pull a few points ahead. The other team was getting out of breath as well, and being the smaller team, they had less players to substitute in like the Lions did. The play began and they stuck to a tactic they’d used right at the start of the game. 

It appeared they were in the clear since the other team seemed too dense to catch on, but they kept it close. The heat of the battle kept them on their toes and going hard. 

The opposing team had the ball from their last kickoff. Shiro went to get on the opposing member most equal to him in strength to help give the other members of the team room. The play continued and the other team pulled ahead after they scored. 

In the next play they took the ball back. Lance managed to catch the ball and he took off running. However, it appeared that the other team was focusing their efforts on him. Shiro yelled to him and this caught his attention. Lance took note of the other players closing in and passed to Keith who was ready.

Keith seemed ready. The ball barrelled at him and he received it, starting to take off. Shiro’s attention was diverted from the opponent he was on and the rival slipped by. The other team’s player intercepted Keith and basically plowed him into the ground him into the ground with all his might as the much smaller player attempted to break away. His attempt was doomed and they two slammed to the ground and a slick CRACKPOP was heard. The sick snapping noise stopped the nearby players in their tracks. The fall elicited a cry of pain from the Lions player underneath him and the shrillness of the referee’s whistle pierced the air. 

The opponent got up, brushing himself off, but quickly lowered again when he realize Keith was cringing in pain and breathing hard. He looked around and called for help and that Kieth was injured but Shiro was already well on his way. He skidded by Keith, followed by Lance. The coach was not far behind as the crowd silenced to a soft anxious murmur. 

“KEITH.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone was going down this chapter and Pidge was too easy to take. Oh no!


	3. Easily Amused Teen Finds Joy in Doctor Gloves

“KEITH.”

It was the last thing he remembered clearly from immediately after the break. He’d been practically swarmed by his teammates before the coach had them all back up. Kneeling, the coach asked question after question to which he was barely able to focus on.

Aside from the firey pain in his shoulder, his left arm was limp. He felt like pins in needles were sticking into his fingertips but any movement he made caused excruciating pain. He was lifted onto a stretcher despite his protests, that he could at least get up and walk, but his coach insisted.

It felt like an eternity he was in the ambulance while they surveyed the damage. Getting off the jersey and other gear was a terrible experience in itself. It wasn’t until after then he was taken to the hospital. Because he had no family in the audience the coach left the management for the game to his trusted captain, Shiro. He had some wait time before he was prepped for an x-ray, during which, his legal guardian was called.

Clavicle fracture. The bone was displaced far enough that natural unity seemed riskier. When his guardian arrived, they discussed what could be done. One of the doctor’s suggestions involved inserting a screw to hold the bone together and ensure an easier recovery. When he mentioned that it could get Keith back into his normal activities, he practically begged his guardian to just get it over with.

In the end, the next saturday morning Keith’s procedure was already underway. By the time he came out of surgery his guardian was gone.

  
  


Waking up was slow and disorienting. He was still on an IV and had a pain killer in his system. He blinked his eyes hard and peered around the room. There was a screen, flowers on a counter. He had to squint but he was fairly certain the card read Shiro’s name. Even though they were too far away for him to really smell, he appreciated the splash of color in the otherwise monochromatic room.

“Mr. Kogane?” A nurse peeked her head into the room. “You have a visitor here. Your guardian listed him responsible for checking you out. After we give you the green light, of course. It shouldn’t be long. Are you alright if I let him in?” She asked. Keith nodded.

“Alrighty! Mr. McClain, he’s ready to see you!” He heard her sweet overjoyous voice chirp the name and he almost burst into a coughing fit as Lance swung into the room, clearly checking out the nurse as he walked in.

“You’re here to check me out?” Keith said, his dry throat making it hard to swallow.

“You betcha, hot stuff,” he winked. “You and all the nurses.” Lance was always the joker in these sour situations. Lance pulled a stool out from behind the screen and sat on it, wheeling himself up to Keith’s bedside.

“And how did that happen?”

“The guy found my number synced on the computer and I guess decided I was cool enough to come pick you up. He had to go somewhere, so here I am. Now, what’s the damage?”

“Lance-”

“Ah-ah-ah! It’s Dr. Lance McClain, patient,” Lance said, poking him in the side. Keith stared at him. “Ok, then. I guess we can skip the formalities. Dr. Lance will do. Now, come on. Coach says you broke your neck bone or something.”

“Collar bone, and yeah,” he said. “Why are you… don’t talk so fast-” Keith muttered. Lance rolled his eyes just like he kicked back and rolled his stool back behind the screen. He re-emerged with a box of gloves. Keith tried to ignore it.

Lance started getting a glove out. “So, I have been named your primary caretaker, unofficially. I mean, that’s what I’m calling myself. Whenever your guy called he sounded like he wasn’t gonna be around much so I decided I’d sleepover. At your house.”

“I don’t need you to do that,” Keith said. “I’m perfectly fine taking care of myself so don’t bother.”

“Yowch! That’s cold. But like what are you gonna do when you can’t lift your arm to get the cereal?” He asked.

“Use my other arm-” Keith replied. Lance seemed stumped by this. He held the glove’s opening to his mouth and breathed into it, blowing it up. “Seriously, Lance. I can’t deal with you right now. Just do what you’re told and get me out of here,” Keith groaned. Lance held up a pointer finger to the other before he pulled the now balloon hand away from his mouth. He tied it up and got out his phone.

“So you don’t have to smile, people wanna just make sure you’re alive.” Lance opened up snapchat and held it out while holding the balloon over Keith’s head. “Say ‘Bok bok’, chicken boy,” he said. Lance looked ridiculous in the selfie, but that’s just how he liked it. Plus Keith was almost caught off-guard enough to not be in his death glare mode.

Keith rolled his eyes and lolled his head to the other side. Lance deflated the hand and held it to the back of his head, setting his phone down.

“What are you doing now?” Keith muttered.

“We’re gonna be mullet brothers,” he said, twirling one of the glove’s fingers around as if it were a strand of hair. Aside from utter disbelief at the other, Keith was too tired for this. He closed his eyes while Lance added another snap to his story. The patient didn’t re-open his eyes again for a while until he heard something clang. He lifted his head to see Lance digging through a cabinet.

“Lance, seriously don’t-”

“Huh this is a really weird salad bowl,” Lance said, holding up a bedpan.

“Put that down.”

“What? Why? It’s so shiny-”

“That’s a bedpan.” The object dropped and Lance kicked it back into its spot quickly. There was more silence.

“Oh hey, Shiro was here earlier by the way. He left these flowers,” he said.

“Yeah. I know. Don’t touch them.” Keith settled back and stared at the dull ceiling.

“Well, yanno, I could bring them to you,” Lance suggested. “I don’t know how you’d enjoy them from all the way over there.” A brief pause and then Keith reluctantly agreed. Lance brought them over to the nightstand and set them there after letting Keith sniff them. The two sat in mutual silence for a minute before Keith spoke again, voice cracking.

“I was serious earlier. You have better stuff to do. Don’t you have some girls to hook up with or like some football star stuff to do?”

“Ah, no. Bros before hoes, dude. And no again. We got totally creamed in that second half,” Lance commented. Keith managed a soft, ‘oh’ before Lance changed the subject entirely.

“How do you feel?” It was a simple question. Easy to answer. Keith felt like shit. The painkillers helped some (although they felt as if they were wearing down). But Keith still felt numb and nauseous. He was a little disappointed his so-called “guardian” didn’t even think he was important enough to stick around post-op, but what else did he expect?

“Fine or whatever,” Keith muttered.

“Dude, why are you always lyin’?”

“Huh.”  
“Like, why do you do that?”

“Do what?” Keith almost growled.

“You always do stuff like this. Like, don’t pretend we aren’t like, good friends. Like yeah we sort of rival each other when it comes to sports, but seriously, bro. I’m here for ya. You don’t need to always keep everything cooped up.” Keith groaned but didn’t respond. Lance just rolled his eyes. “Right.” He reached into the glove box and blew up two more gloves, inserting them in his shirt through the top.

“See? I’m like… like a celebrity”

“...Why?” Keith asked.

“Duh, I got like boob implants to be more muscular. Hey! Look- I’m Shiro!”

“What? Shiro doesn’t have breast implants. He actually works out when he’s supposed to,” Keith muttered. Lance pulled one of the gloves out and held it up.

“Dude, this is the joke-” and he threw it over his head, “and you missed it.”

The lankier teen sighed and got up, taking another glove to the sink behind the screen. Keith heard the water turn on and watched Lance re-appear moments later.

Lance was determined to get Keith to crack a smile no matter what.

“What are you doing with that?” Keith asked.

“Uh, duh, I’m gonna milk the cow.” Lance straddled the stool and projected himself back adjacent to Keith. He aimed one of the glove’s fingers (the middle finger) at Keith and yanked it. It squirted some water that nailed Keith in the forehead. He aimed it at the flowers. “Hey, hey, Keith look-” He said. “Water those!!!” He fired water at the flowers.

“God, you’re such a meme,” Keith uttered tiredly although he might’ve been about to crack a smile.

“Ok, now like open your mouth I wanna see if I can aim this-”

“How about we save games for later?” It was then that the doctor entered. Lance froze. He still had one inflated glove balloon poking out of his shirt and another water balloon glove in his grasp, aiming it at the patient. “My stool?”

Lance got up and started to dismiss himself but the doctor had him stay while they discussed post-op care. He seemed concerned that his patient’s care was in the hands of another goofy teenager, but he’d received specific instructions from the guardian and he couldn’t deny them. The doctor wrapped things up, both figuratively and literally. He gave him the sling he’d be using to hold his arm in place as well as quite a few instructions and a pamphlet. A nurse helped Keith out to Lance’s car, which Lance left a few minutes early to retrieve after check-out.

 

 

 

As they left, Lance was extra focused on his driving and Keith was focused on whatever was out the window. He had the vase of flowers sitting between his legs. When Lance pulled up to his house he glanced over.

“Last chance,” Keith muttered, wincing some.

“Dude, you’re not gonna shake me. We are gonna have a great slumber party, ok? It’s only like Saturday so you can like sleep or something and I’ll watch all your movies.” Lance got out, took the flowers from Keith and helped the other step out and steady himself. Keith could walk just fine with the exception of feeling a little weak in the knees. In no time Lance had him settled in his bed with a glass of water. While Lance was setting Keith’s medications where he could reach them, the injured teen spoke up, fully catching Lance’s attention before the meds started making him feel even more drowsy.

“Thanks, Lance.”

Lance was pretty sure it was the medication talking, but he grinned nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So some of this may seemed rushed, so I apologize for that but I had a lot to squeeze in this chapter before I could progress. I had to get a move on with the two original main characters at some point.


End file.
